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‘Blokes who would normally fight would get off their boxes and dance’: Sanctuary, the club that made Milton Keynes massive


It eventually got turned into an Ikea, but for over a decade this warehouse unit galvanised hard dance, grime and more. At a big reunion, former ravers recall the magic

Sensing an opportunity, businessman Tony Rosenberg then found a financier to purchase the site and turn what he calls “a tin box with a load of fire exits knocked in”, also featuring a set of faux-Roman columns mysteriously left over by the previous tenants, into one of the first of its kind: a permanent rave venue with an all-night entertainment licence. Over the next 11 years, the Sanctuary would go on to inscribe itself into UK music history by hosting Dreamscapes until Beetson’s death aged 29 in 1996, as well as major promoters such as Helter Skelter, Fantazia, Obsession, Slammin’ Vinyl and Hardcore Heaven; house nights including Gatecrasher, Godskitchen, and IQ; and live acts such as the Prodigy. On Facebook, I see a veteran MC post a selfie at the Colosseum in Rome, wondering about “the bloodshed inside there”, and someone – perhaps joking, perhaps not – comments underneath: “Nothing compared to the Sanctuary, brother.” The floor was known to bounce in the smaller room upstairs, and locals who preferred house nights in town adopted the sarcastic nickname “Sanitary” owing to the sweat dripping from the ceiling.

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